Glass-working machine



F. L. 0. WADSWORTH.

GLASS WORKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED IuNEz?, 1918.

1,375,336., Patented Apr. 19, 1.921.

`:FRANK L. O. WADSWORTH,.OF

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 BALL BROTHERS GLASS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OFMMUNCIE, INDIANA, A COR,

PORATION OF INDIANA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

GLASS-WORKING MACH'INE.

Patented Apr. 19, 1921.

'Application filed Ju'ne 2l?, 1918. Serial No. 242,266.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FRANK L. O. Wiener,1

WoR'rH,ia citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Glass-Working Machine, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates, in general to means for automatically charging a series of mold receptacles with molten vitreous material which is delivered thereto in a stream that flows directly from a tank or other large source of' supply; to the severing and manipulation ofthe flowing stream in such manner that the viscosity and surface tensionof the vitreous ymaterial is utilized in temporarily arresting the How of the metal tervals for periods sufficiently long to permit of the removal of a full yInOld and the bringing of an empty mold to the charging position.

The primary objects of my improvements in this art are: he avoidance of surface at predetermined inchilling ofthe glass, which results from the suppoit of' any part of the hot stream of material-during either its periods of flow or its periods of arrest-on metal surfaces; the elimination of or gas bubbles and blisters which are produced whenever the glass is allowed to pile' up on a cutting knife or other surface intermediate between the delivery orifice and the Y receiving receptacle; and the maintenance of the main body of the flowing metal at all times at a uniform minimum workingtemperature.

vision of improved fmechanlsm for very rapidly severing the stream of material at the required predetermined intervals of mold movement; for symmetrically shaping the severed end of the stream (relative tothe delivery orifice) `to :the form which will render the practice of my improved method most effective; and for then instantly withdrawing the severing and shaping means from contact with lthe hot glass so as to V avoid any'appreciable chilling beneath the Still another` objectT sua'lface 0f the latter. o myimprovements-is to constructy the stream-cuttingparts of such material and in such vmanner as to greatly reduce the conand it relates particularly laps and entrained air Other objects of my invention are the pro-v' inthe disclosure is partlcularly the section being taken on the h ne 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a partial plan vlew of the parts in the same position yas is shown in'Flgsl 2 and 3; and Fig. 5 is an and advantages of my invenadapted to ypractice my in- Fig. 3 is a sectional end view l enlarged diagram illustrating graphically the movement of the cutting and shaping knives and the driving parts thereof.

In the construction and arrangement of parts, illustratedl in the above figures, 1 indicates a chamber containing a large supply of molten material of a' viscous character, such, for instance, as glass, 2 a delivery'orifice inthe bottom of saidchamber, and-3 a plug which is movable vertically in the'oriice 2, and serves` to regulate the flow of molten material from the lower end of the orifice'2, I preferably place a ring 4 of manganese steel, or of some similar, electricity-conducting, material having a low heat conductivity. When such a ring is used, I support it in a water-cooled boss 5 in such manner as to permit of its ready -removal and replacement.

The mechanism which I use for severing the stream of material flowing from the orilice 2 .is placed closely adjacent the lower side of that orifice; and in the form of4 mechanism which `is illustratedit comprises two blocks 6 and 7 mounted Von carriages 8 and 9 that lreciprocate longitudinally in' ways l0 and ll (see Figs. 3 and 4). The

blocks 6 and "7 are' preferably formed of `manganese steel, and are each provided-with cup-shaped' cavities 1 2 and 1'3 that are. ap-

the said orifice. At' I proximately semi-circular in horizontal cross section (see-F ig. 4) and semi-ovate in verto a correspondi'ng.-semi-ovate cylindrical form, and attached to the block-Z A1s a cutter 1 'blade 14 whose inner face is shaped to'iit A the outer faces iust described. Attached to the carriage 8 are two rods or tubes 15 and 16 which extend forward to a cross head 17 that fits closely between the ways 10 and 11,

Vand is coupled to a crank disk 18 by means of the connecting rod 19. The carriage 9, which carries the block 7 and' its attached cutter blade 14, is coupled directly to a piston 20 by-means of a rod 21, which also carries a rack 22 that engages with teeth on thel pinion crank disk 18. A spring 23 interposed between a lug on ,the guideway frame 10--11 and an opposing lug on the rod 21, serves to keep the parts of the cutting mechanism normally in the position shown y in rig. 1.

The operation of the' above-described mechanism 'is as follows: With the parts in the position indicated in Fig. 1, the stream of molten material is allowed to How l directly downward" from-the orifice 2 into the receiving mold or receptacle 24, until the required amount has accumulated in this receptacle. The three-wa valve 25 is then operated by the actiono a cam 26, which is mounted at some convenient point onv the power shaft of the apparatus which supports and controls the movements of the mold receptacles. yThe opening of this valve admits compressed alr -or steam or other actuating fluid to the cylinder containing the piston 20, and moves this piston forward against the pressure^ of the spring 23.

The forward movement of the piston 20 produces a simultaneously uniform forward movement of the carriage 9, and also-produces-through the engagement of the rack 22'with the crank pinion disk l18--a varying differential reverse movement of the carriage 8. The relation between these opposing movements isv shown graphicall in' the enlarged diagram of Fig. "5, in w ich the letters o yand f (right hand lower series) indicate successive positions occupied bythe ends of the connecting'rod 19 and by` the edge of the block' 6, and the letters o and f 1n icate successive positions occupied by the edge of the ctter blade 14.l An inspection Y of this diagram will 'showthat the two blocks 6 and 7 will advance toward .each

other at a nearly uniform speed' until the parts reach the position indicated Aat d on the diagram,A From that point on, the carriage 8, which is actuated by the movementof the pinion crank disk 18, remains nearlyv stationary in position, while the carriage 9 (which is actuated directly by the move, mentof the piston 15) continues to move forward at the same speed as before. rllhe parts are so adjusted in position that the motion of the-v block 6 practically ceases when its edge has been brought to the center line X--X of the stream and'it's cup cavity 12 hasbeen likewise brought' into shaping engagement with the righthand side of the' Lacasse stream, as shown in Fig. 2. At'this point of the movement the edge of the cutter blade 14 has likewise been brought to the center ^line X-X of the stream, and the continued complete severance of the glass streamand also Vbrings the face of the cup cavity 13 into shaping engagement with the lefthand .side of the stream. When the parts have reached this position-as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 1 -the three-way valve 25 is opened (either by the positive action of the cam 26 or by a spring25) andthe actuating fluid is permitted to escape fromv the cylinder, vthus allowing the parts to be quickly returned to the open position shown in Fig. l by the action of the spring 23. If desired, the action. of this spring can be aided by placing the three-way valve 25 in communication with a vacuum chamber or with some suction device--such as lan air ,or steam ej ector-thereby -withdrawingthe air or actuating iuid from behind the piston 20 and utilizing the exterior atmospheric pressure to return the piston to its initial-position.

Both the closing and the opening movements of the cutting and shaping parts are so rapidly performed that the contact between the parts ofl the glass stream and the metal of the blocks 6 and 7 and the knife 14 is only momentary, and there is no appreciable chilling .of the glass from such a contact. The attainment of this result is facilitated by making the blocks 6 and 7 and the blade 14 of lmanganese steel, or some similar metal, which has an exceedingly highheat resistivity and therefore will conduct away very little heat even when its contact withj the glass is quite prolonged. For this reason, the ordinary water-cooling of the` metal parts of thev cutting mechanism is in many cases unnecessary; but in the apparatus illustrated, I Ahave shown means for introducing circulating currents of water to the cored cavities of both the blocks 6 and 7, without the use of any flex- ,iblepipes such as are commonly employedr 27 and l28 entering the fixed guides 10 vand 11. The cooling liquid is likewise led to.` vand from the cavity in the block 7 through elongated ports 29 and 30 in the carriage 9; these ports communicate with openings at the ends of the fixed pipes' 31 and 32.

When a stream of lass or other similar thermoplastic materia is delivered 'from a suo V perature of the material.

the thickness and character of this shell depending very largely, of course, upon the character of the glass, its initial temperature as it emerges from the furnace,.and the atmospheric temperature. Through this-'tubular shell, the main body of theA stream of glass flows, the downward velocity of the middle of the stream being greater than the exterior. I have discovered that when a stream of glass is severed, as above described, at a point fairly close to the delivery orifice, the momentary chilling 'at the cutting plane results in the completion of an inclosing stream-retarding envelop for the depending .end of the stream, the slight chilling resulting from the cutting operation connecting up with the chilled skin or shell which is depending from the discharge ori.- fice. The exact distance of the cutting plane 4from the orifice will, of course, depend upon the size of the stream, its consistency, temperature and consistency of the inclosing shell, and this distance may be increased by the shaping of the severed 'end of the stream to a globular or ovoid form, and it is for this reason that I referably use the shapingblocks 6 and 7 ang I also preferably mount the frame of the cuttingmechanism on verticalways4-such as 33-thus permitting it to be adjusted up and down so as to secure the best resultsy in different cases.

' In general, I have found that the plane of cutting should be'located at a distance below the orifice 2 which is approximately equal to the diameter of the saidrorifice, but this distance, as already stated, can be varied to a considerable degree according to the tem- Y When cut at too high a point the glass dropor globule depending from the orifice will not contain a sufficient mass of molten metal to overcome the surface tension and viscosity of the material, and the fiow will notbe properly reestablished after the severing operation.

l/Vhen c'ut at too low a point, the mass of de-l pending material will be too great and the downward flow will be resumed before a sufficient interval has elapsed for the removal of the filled mold and the bringing of an empty moldsuch as 34-to the requlred charging position. But by adjusting the plane of the cut by the upward or downward movement of the apparatus, a point can be always found `where the physical. causes tending to control the resumption of the flow of the severed stream will so cooperate as to support the globular mass depending from the orifice 2 for a sufficient length of time to permit of. thevnecessary mold movements, and will then allow the stream to resume its flow to the next mold.

In order to make the time interval during which the flow must be arrested as short as possible, I prefer to employ the system of moving molds, which forms the subject matter of my copendingv application,.Serial No.

834,233, in whicha metal mold-suchas 34- is brought directly under a mold-such as 24-which is being filled, and which is, therefore, directly 1n line with'the flowing stream and in position'to receive the4 latter as soon as the filled mold has been moved laterally away from the char ing position by its own semi-diameter. Te herein described method of controlling the fiow of glass' is not, however, dependent upon the employment of this or any other particular system of mold movement but may be employed in connection with many different types of glass forming apparatus, in which the different molds of a series are brought' successively to the filling or charging position in the present well-known manner.

In some cases-such as those in which the gl-ass is being supplied to the molds at an unusually low working temperature- I find it desirable to employ means for constantl or intermittently heating the material whic flows through the orifice 2. This can be conveniently and effectively done by passing any electric current through the glass filling this orifice. For this purpose, I embed a metal terminal or electrode 35 in the end of the regulating plug 3, and connect the terminal with one side of an electric circuit from a 'constant current generator, such as is employed, for example, in arc lighting. The other terminal of the generator is connected through a switch 36 with the plate 5 in which the flow-ring 4 is mounted. The opening and closing of the switch 36 is controlled by a cam 37 on the power shaft of the machine,y and when the circuit is closed intermittently, the parts are so arranged i that the current will preferably pass through the glass at the time when it is resuming its flowl after each severing operation.

The heating effect produced by a current of constant amperage is itself automatically varied by the temperature of the glass, for the reason that the resistance of the molten material varies inversely with its temperature, while the heating eect varies directly as the resistance of the material. The result is that the colder portions of the lass will be heated to a greater extent than t e hotter portions, and uniformity of temperature will thereby be maintained. The passage of the current through the block 4 also userves l to sensibly he'at that block-since the electrical resistance of manganese steel iseX- tremely high-and this, in turn, serves to freduce the retarding effect of the blockon' the flow of the stream by reducing the viscosity and surface tension at the bounding surfaces thereof. The employment of ran intermittently flowing current in conjunction with the other previously described steps of my improved operation may, there'- .fore, be of decided advantage in such cases as I have lalready referred to; i. e., cases in which'it is desired to deliver the glass to the mold receptacles at the lowest possible ward each other upon opposite sides of the I `stream inwardly at substantially the same relation to the axis of the stream substan tially to the axis ofthe stream and for continuing the movement of one of said memv 2. An apparatus for cutting streams of viscous materials'comprising a pair of cupshaped mating members one having a cutting edgeand the other having a projecting cutter overlappable upon the -first-mentioned cup, means for reciprocating the last-men-y tioned member toward and from the axis of the stream, a rack associated with said member, a pinion meshing with said rack and carrying a wrist pin, and a link connecting said wrist'pin with the other reciprocating memberof the cutter for the purpose set forth.

3. An apparatus for cutting streams of viscous materials comprising alpair of cupJ shaped mating members one having a cutting edge capable of entering the stream and the other having a projectin cutter capable of entering the stream over appable `upo'n the first-mentioned cup.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set V.bers after the other has substantially come to rest.

my hand at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this u eighteenth day of June, A. D. one thousand` nine hundred and eighteen. v

FRANK L. 0. WADSWORTH. 

